Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-10-01

away, the fire had finished him, and a great
silence fell upon the place.
Then the high priest Agon turned, and his
/ face was as the face Of a devil. Let the sac
rfice I've sacrificed" lie cried to the queens.
| alas not sacrilege enough been done 10y these
strangers, and would ye, as queens, throw
the cloak of your majesty over evil doersi
| Are not the creatures sacred TO the Sun dead!
and is not a priest Of the Sun also dead, but
now slain by the magic of these strangers,
who come as the winds out of heaven. whence
We know not, and who are what we know
mott Beware, . queens, how ye tamper with
| the great majesty Of the God, even before his
high altar There is a power that is more
| than your power: there is justice that is
higher than your justice. Beware how We
| lift an impious hand against it. Let the sac
rifce be sacrificed. . queens
| Then Sorais made answer, in her deep,
quiet tones, that always seemed to me to have
q suspicion of mockery about them, however
serious the theme: "Oh, Agon, thou hast
spoken according TO thy desire, and thou hast
spoken truth But il is thou who wouldst
| lift an impious hand against the justice Of
thy God. Bethink thee the mid day sacrifice
| is accomplished: the Sun hath claimed his
priest As a sacrifice"
This was novel idea, and the people ap-
| plauded it.
"Bethink thee, what are these mena They
are strangers found floating on the bosom Of
lake. Who brought them heref How came
they there! How know ye that they also
are not servants II the Suns Is this the
hospitality that We would have our nation
show to those whom chance brings to them,
| 10 throw them to the famesi Shame on ye!
shame on ye, What is hospitalityi To re-
ceivc the stranger and show him favor. Tc
bind up his wounds, and find q pillow for
his head and food for him to eat. But thy
| pillow is the fiery furnace, and thy foo!
the hot SAVIOR OF the flame. Shame OH thee.
saw
She paused little to watch the effect Of
her speech upon the multitude. and seeing
| that it WAS favorable, changed her tone from
one of remoistrance TO one of command
"Ho. place there, she cried, "place, ] say /;
make way for the queens, and those whom
| the queens cover with their 'kaf (mantle).'
And if l refuse, o qaeenf' said Agon be-
| tween his teeth.
Then will I cut q path with my guards, :"
was the proud answer; 'ay, even in the pre-
encc Of the sanctuary, and through the bodies
Of thy priests"
Agon turned livd with baffied fury. He
glanced at the people as though meditating all
appeal to them. but saw clearly that their
symlathies We're all the other way The Zu-
Vendi are very curious and snciable people,
and great as was their sense Of the enormity
that we had committed in shooting the sacred
| hippopotumi they did not like the idea of the
only real live strangers they had seen or
heard Of being consigned to a fiery furnace,
thereby putting all end forever to their chance
Of extracting knowledge and information
from Gnd Gossipins about us. Ason saw this
and ErsI;ated, and then for the first time
NyleptiIa spoke in her soft sweet voice.
".,c,hiuI thee, Agon," she said, "as my
ss.er queen hath said. these men NAV also be
sery ants OF tie Sun. For themselves they
cannot speak, for their tongues nre tied. Let
the matter be adjourned till such time rs they
have learned our language Who can he con-
demned without a hearing. When these men
can plead for themselves. then it will be time
70 put them to the proof"
Here was o clever loophole of escape, and
the vindictive old priest took it, little ms he
liked it.
$50 be it, o queens" he said LET tho
men GO in peace, AMI when they have learned
4,
I, will make humble supplication at the altar
lest pestilcnce fall on the land by cause Of the
sacrilese"
These words were received with murmur
Of applause, and in another minute We We're
marching out Of the temple surrounded by
the royal guards.
/ But it was not till loug afterward that We
learned the exact substance of what had
passed, and how hardly our lives had been
wrung out Of the cruel gripe Of the Zu-Vendi
priesthood, in the face Of which even the
queens were practically powerless. Had it
not been for their strenuous efforts to protect
us we should have been slain even before We
set foot in the Temple of the Sun. The attempt
10 drop us bodily into the fiery rit as an Of
fering was last artiiice to attain this end
when several others quite unsuspccted by US
bad already failed.